Granada

Gorgeous sky!

What a beautiful city! Nicaragua is as hot and dry as Costa Rica is humid and wet, and this means it is noticeably crisper than CR, and therefore not nearly as lush (actually, I am speaking only for the region in which I have travelled, and in actual fact I think vast areas of the North are decidedly lush and wet, but I’ve not seen those parts). However, what it lacks in wildlife it makes up for in architecture, and this city is just beautiful and in stark contrast to CR’s towns which are on the whole decidedly non-descript.

We spent a few days here enjoying wandering round the old streets and sipping coffee in front of old colonial buildings imagining we were in Europe. We also caught the local bus to Laguna de Apoyo with a jolly Dutch couple and a German girl where we bobbed around on the waves in rubber tubes, sunbathed and ate overpriced pizza (camera left at home).

Probably our most surreal experience in Granada….we decided to treat ourselves to a chocolate massage!! Yes that’s real edible, delicious, locally-grown chocolate! You basically lie down naked and get covered in warm melted chocolate, then the lady sprinkles you with sugar, rubs it in and leaves you for half an hour to let you stew.

Now this is supposed to be relaxing but if you know me, you know I have a very sweet tooth. Therefore lying still whilst smothered in what is essentially a pudding, with its delightfully sumptuous aroma drifting into your nostrils is far from being relaxing! There’s no way to dress this up, I spent the entire half an hour surreptitiously licking myself in ways that I imagined wouldn’t be noticeable by the masseuse. Whether I succeeded in my pursuit or not, the end the session arrived and I joined my betrothed to have a shower (yes they cover you in chocolate and then let you share a shower).

Our conversation went something like…

Me: “OHMIGOD-YOU-GORGEOUS-YUMMY-GIANT-CHOCOLATE-MONSTER-LET-ME-EAT-YOU!!!”

Bro: “WHAT-THE-F**K-EMS-THAT-LADY’S-RUBBED-IT-IN-WITH-HER-HANDS-YOU-CAN’T-EAT-THAT!!”

So it turns out that whilst I’d been gorging myself, Brodie had been serenely stretched out as he was supposed to and the thought of having a nibble hadn’t even crossed his mind.

So that put a stop to my romantic and comestible notions but we did enjoy the experience, and definitely left a lip-smacking aroma in our wake for the rest of the day, which if we’re honest makes a change!!